The Queen of the Carnival at Kinvara with two attending ladies left to right Miss Concepta Callanan, Caherglissane, Miss Kathleen Forde, Ballybuck (Queen) and Miss Annie Nolan, Crushoa.Connacht Tribune 1959

Sunday evening was Carnival Evening in Kinvara, when large crowds, including many visitors, watched the Fancy Dress Parade and the Crowning of the Queen of the Carnival. The town was en fete, decorated with flags and bunting. The Carnival is run jointly by the Kinvara Guild of Muintír na Tíre and the Kinvara Club G.A.A., one of its principal objects being the development of the G.A.A. pitch recently purchased. There were over two hundred competitors in the Fancy Dress Parade.

The Parade Marshall rode in front on horseback, followed by the Tulla Pipers’ Band. There were at least three “Tom Dooleys.” “Mr. de Valera” passed by holding out a pair of boots with the caption, “Who’ll fill Dev’s boots now?”. A boy and girl festooned with authentic exam papers, bore a card calling for the abolition of the Primary Cert; “Padraig O’Conaire” drove by on his ass and card; “Liberace” escorted his “Mum.” There were several editions of the Dalai Lama, Billy the Blacksmith was a “Museum Piece,” a tiny pair with costumes made up of the “Noughts and Crosses,” portrayed the “Referendum on P.R.”.

Others included – “The Queen of the Shear”; “Christy Ring”;”No Council Houses for Kinvara”; a “Sultan”; the “Four Seasons”; the “Latest Fashions”, including Onion Line, Sack Line, Balloon Line and 1960 Line; the “Result of the Bantry Explosion.” The magnificent Puck Goat drawing a tiny car and driver was among the cowboys and other foreign gents in fancy costumes.

At the quayside the Mayor of Kinvara, Mr. Michael Leech, and his aide de camps awaited the State Coach bearing the Royal Party. The “messenger” riding a penny farthing bicycle, arrived to announce to the M.C., Mr Tom Donnellan, the election of the Queen and her imminent arrival.

The election of Miss Kathleen Forde of Ballybuck, Kinvara, was greeted with acclamation. She arrived in her coach, attended by her four ladies in waiting, the Misses Annie Nolan of Crushoa, Concepta Callanan of Caherglissane, Rosemary Silke and Mary Keane of Kinvara .Having welcomed all visitors the Mayor took the crown from the hands of the “Court Equerry,” Kieran Moylan and crowned Kathleen I. The new Queen, in her “Coronation Speech”, promised that all taxes would at once be doubled but would be payable to the Royal Treasury for such worthy projects as the repair of the roads around Kinvara and the extension of the fishing limit to twelve miles.